Sausage & Gnocchi Soup

Tags

carrot, dinner, food, foodie, gnocchi, lunch, recipe, sausage, soup, spinach, tomato

Today I have the urge to bake… and drink a mimosa. Yet I have no eggs, milk or juice in the house and I do not want to run out to the grocery store. I even looked through a few vegan cake recipes. What’s a young wifey to do? Make soup or course!… Then drink the champagne…

Sausage & Gnocchi Soup

Ingredients:

olive oil, 1 lb. ground turkey sausage, 1/2 dice yellow onion, 1 Tbsp. minced garlic, 1 shredded carrot, 2 c. chopped spinach, 2 diced tomatoes, 2 Tbsp. tomato paste, 6 c. chicken or veggie stock, 1 batch of gnocchi, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, fresh grated pecorino romano cheese

Directions:
At the bottom of a stock pot, sauté onion in olive oil. Add ground sausage and break into small pieces, cook until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic, salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes. Add tomato paste, stock, carrot, tomatoes, and spinach to pot and bring to a boil. Allow gnocchi and simmer for about 4 minutes, or until gnocchi puff and begin to float. Top with fresh grated cheese and serve with hot focaccia bread.

Moral: If life doesn’t give you milk. eggs or juice, make soup! haha

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!
What’s on your stove/in your oven today? 

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Sausage, Pepper & Spinach Cannelloni

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cannelloni, dinner, food, foodie, pepper, postaday2011, recipe, ricotta, sausage, spinach

My final project is submitted and the online discussions are closed. Now I can finally spend time making things from scratch again! Hubster’s belly will be so happy!

Sausage, Pepper & Spinach Cannelloni

Ingredients:
1 batch of cannelloni, 1 lb. ground (turkey) sausage, 2 c. ricotta cheese, 1 c. chopped white onion, olive oil, 1 c. parmesan cheese, 1 egg, 1 Tbsp. crushed garlic, 2 c. fresh baby spinach, 1 red pepper, fresh cracked black pepper, fresh ground sea salt, tomato sauce (or crushed tomatoes or diced tomatoes)

Directions:
Parboil fresh cannelloni and then rub with olive oil. Oil a glass casserole dish. Preheat oven 350°F. Brown onion, garlic and sausage in frying pan. Once meat is cooked, set aside to cool. Cut peppers into long strips. Add peppers and spinach to pan until softened, set aside. Mix together ricotta, eggs, parmesan, salt, pepper and sausage mixture. In cannelloni, layer pepper strips and spinach. Spoon on ricotta mixture and gently roll cannelloni to create a tube. Place stuffed cannelloni in baking dish seam side down. Pour sauce or tomatoes over pasta and bake for 30 minutes.

Fresh cannelloni recipe to follow tomorrow…

Serve hot and enjoy!

What’s on your dinner table???

Breakfast On The Go

Tags

breakfast, brunch, cheese, food, foodie, meal, pastry, postaday2011, quick, quick meal, recipe, roll, sausage, sausage rolls

Got breakfast?
Back to school is the perfect time to play around with quick grab and go options. And breakfast rolls have so many possibilities, it’s difficult to get bored. Any combination of meat, cheese, veggies, and condiments will work. You can prep these ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze. Simply microwave in the morning and enjoy.

Breakfast Rolls

Sausage Roll Ingredients:
puff pastry (or other quick baking dough), turkey breakfast sausage, cheddar cheese, Dijon mustard

Ham Roll Ingredients:
puff pastry, turkey ham, swiss cheese, Dijon mustard

Pancake Roll Ingredients:
puff pastry, turkey sausage, maple syrup

Monte Cristo Roll Ingredients:
puff pastry, turkey ham, smoked turkey, swiss cheese, provolone, maple syrup

Apple Roll Ingredients:
puff pastry, apple slices, cheddar cheese

Banana Roll Ingredient:
puff pastry, banana, peanut butter

Bacon & Egg Roll Ingredients:
puff pastry, cooked turkey bacon, scrambled eggs, any cheese or condiment

Berry Roll Ingredients:
puff pastry, red raspberries, dark chocolate chips (just a few)

Breakfast Roll Directions:
Cut the dough into rectangles, layer with condiment, cheese and meat. Roll dough up and press closed. Place seam side down and bake about 375°F for about 10 minutes, or refer to dough directions.

What combination are you going to create?

 

Baked Sausage & Pepper Penne with Red Cat Cream Sauce

Tags

bell peppers, comfort food, dinner, entree, food, foodie, lunch, orange bell peppers, orange peppers, pasta, penne, pepper, postaday2011, recipe, sausage, turkey sausage

I made a similar sausage penne dish a few months ago. This time I wanted to make it a cream sauce to go with it. And Red Cat… okay, so I was drinking some Red Cat and impulsively poured some in the pan, but I love cooking with Red Cat. I also wanted to use red bell peppers, but the orange bell pepper were on sale, and looked much more fresh. I took the picture with really harsh lighting late last night, so my photo isn’t the best.

Baked Sausage & Pepper Penne

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey sausage, 1 lb. penne, 1 shallot (minced), 2 diced yellow bell peppers, 1 c. Red Cat wine,  1 pint heavy cream, 1/3 c. flour, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven 350°F. Cook penne according to package. Drop sausage by the spoonful into pan of shallow water and simmer until meat is done (water should be gone, if not drain water). Remove sausage from pan then add wine and deglaze pan.  Toss in shallots, salt and Red Cat and simmer. Add heavy cream and flour and whisk together. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Toss together sausage, penne and pepper and pour into baking dish. Sprinkle with pepper. Top penne with cream sauce and bake for about 25 minutes. Serve hot with garlic bread and fresh grated pecorino romano.

This is a great meal to make ahead and freeze, simply defrost and bake.

What’s for dinner tonight?

Sausage & Watercress Penne

Tags

dinner, easy dinner, easy meal, easy recipe, food, foodie, lunch, meal, pasta, penne, postaday2011, quick & easy, quick and easy, quick recipe, recipe, sausage, watercress, yellow pepper

A tasty heap of comfort food is the perfect way to end the day…

Sausage & Watercress Penne

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey sausage, 1 lb. penne, 3 c. chopped watercress, 1/2 shallot (minced), 2 diced yellow bell peppers, 1/2 c. dry white wine, fresh ground sea salt

Directions:
Cook penne according to package. Drop sausage by the spoonful into pan of shallow water and simmer until meat is done (water should be gone, if not drain water). Remove sausage from pan then add wine and deglaze pan.  Toss peppers, shallots and watercress in pan and simmer. Sprinkle with fresh ground sea salt. Return sausage to pan. Pour over pasta and garnish with freshly grated pecorino romano.

*I actually use turkey breakfast sausage for this recipe. I prefer the flavor of breakfast sausage over the other varieties…
*Some people use only the watercress leaves, I roughly chop the leaves and stems alike, it adds to the texture.

What are your weekend plans?

Garbanzo and Sausage with Rice

Tags

brown rice, entree, garbanzo, meal, one pot meal, pepper, red bell pepper, red pepper, rice, sausage, side dish, turkey sausage, vegetarian, vegetarian recipe, vegetarian sausage

A few years ago, I inherited this recipe from a student’s parent, however it called for Chorizo. I don’t prepare red meat often, and I never eat it. Nevertheless, Hubster does enjoy it from time to time. I decided I need to revamp the recipe a little for our preferences. I’ve made this once before, using turkey sausage, today I decided to mix things up and use a vegetarian sausage (by Morning Star). The TVP sausage broke down a bit instead of holding its shape, but the flavor was still great.

Garbanzo & Sausage w/Rice

Ingredients:
4 c. garbanzo, 2 Tbs. olive oil, 1 medium onion, 1 red pepper chopped, 1 clove garlic (minced), 1/2 tsp. chili powder, 1/4 lb. sausage* (1/2 diced, 1/2 quartered), 2 Tbs. tomato sauce, 1 c. vegetable broth

Directions:
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, pepper and sausage, cook until tender and meat is no longer pink. Add remaining ingredients. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over hot cooked brown rice.

*Once the meal was done simmering, I split the batch in half and added 1/2 tsp. to Hubster’s portion. Hubster said it didn’t look like a tasty meal, but that it was actually delicious! I guess next time I’ll stick to turkey sausage, so it’ll hold it’s shape better and not look so mushy.

Spicy Stuffed Peppers

Tags

dinner, peppers, recipe, sausage, sausage stuffed peppers, stuffed peppers

I love stuffed peppers, whether they’re red, green, yellow, orange or purple. In fact, when making several at a time, I use a couple of each color.

Ingredients:
6 bell peppers, 1 lb. turkey sausage, 4 c. cooked brown rice, 1 canned chopped green chilies, 2 c. tomato sauce,  2 c. shredded pepper jack cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven 400ºF. Blanch peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes. Chop sausage, brown and drain the grease. Add rice, chilies and sauce to meat and heat. Add cheese and remove once melted. Separate mixture equally and stuff into prepared peppers, place into a 9″ x 9″ baking dish. Top stuffed peppers with another spoonful of tomato sauce. Bake for 20 minutes or until peppers are tender.

Prepping the peppers

*The store was out of turkey sausage, so I used regular sausage for Hubster and omitted it from mine. I also added some jalepeños to give Hubster an extra kick…

*Some turkey sausage come in pork casings and I won’t buy or eat it. It’s very rare for me to find turkey sausage, sometimes I make my own, remembering to add fennel to the recipe. In that case, I don’t shape it, I cook it like ground meat.